Rampant Destruction (CERBERUS Book 10) by Andy Peloquin

Author:Andy Peloquin [Peloquin, Andy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2021-01-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Nolan crossed the room in two long steps and drove a fist into Agent Styver’s face. “You goddamned piece of shit!”

The impact sent Agent Styver and the chair toppling backward. He screamed as his weight atop the wooden chair crushed his bound wrists. Yet through his pain, he stared up at Nolan with a grin that bordered on manic.

“Do it, Cerberus!” he shouted. “Put a bullet in my head, and seal your doom once and for all!” A hard light shone in his eyes. “You’re not our only asset of any value. There are so many, many more to take your place.” His gaze flashed toward Darren, who hadn’t moved to intervene, then toward the open bedroom door and into the room beyond. “Your friends here have been free to run to the end of their leashes, but the moment they laid a hand on me, they spelled their own doom! All of them are going to end up in a tank, just like your brother!”

Nolan seized Agent Styver by the throat and, with a mighty wrench, hauled the man and chair back upright. Agent Styver groaned at the pain in his wrists, but his eyes never left Nolan’s.

“But you, they’re going to put you down like the rabid—“

“Shut the fuck up!” Nolan drove a fist into the man’s jaw. Agent Styver sagged, unconscious.

“Askvig!” Master Sergeant Kane called from the main room. “Jock up, now!”

Nolan heard Darren’s heavy footsteps leave the bedroom, but he was focused on the task at hand. Mentally, he said to Taia, “Scan Agent Styver to locate that outgoing signal.”

He extended his gauntleted hand, and Taia shifted the smart steel threads from his gauntlet to form what looked like a tiny antenna.

“The signal’s coming from his right forearm,” Taia said after a few seconds. “I’ll need direct access to the chip or beacon to determine if I can remove it.”

He gripped Agent Styver’s right wrist. “Do it.”

Agent Styver didn’t even stir as Taia sank the metal filaments into his skin. The tiny threads wormed deeper until Taia said, “It’s a chip. Gaining access now. Hacking security protocols and running its code.” A moment of silence elapsed. “I can remove it,” she said finally, “but it’s going to be a delicate process. The chip is implanted between his brachial artery and a major nerve cluster in his forearm. Incorrectly removing it could trigger its built-in fail-safe, which will shred the blood vessel and send a surge of electricity up his nervous system into his brain.”

Nolan wanted to give her the order to do it—he didn’t give a shit if Agent Styver lived or died—but he wouldn’t let his one bargaining chip go, not yet.

“Any way you can deactivate it?” he asked. “Or encase it like you did with Sladek’s chip to block the outgoing signal?”

“Working on it,” Taia replied. “It will take me another twelve-point-eight seconds.”

“Use that time to arm up, Cerbie,” Bex said from the doorway.

Nolan turned to see her holding his Balefire Mark 2.1, which she tossed to him.

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